Friday, September 26, 2014

Ernie Hardeman - MPP for Oxford (September 26th, 2014)

Father, we come before You with
thanksgiving for the men and women that serve us in the Parliament of the
Province of Ontario. We lift up MPP: Ernie Hardeman to You and ask You to
pour out Your blessings on him and his family. Be with him Lord, as he serves
on committees and in his constituency of Oxford. Open his eyes to new
possibilities as he travels and talks to the people of our province.
Renew his strength and vision for the work You have called him to do.
We begin to pray for wisdom, courage, integrity,
strength, blessing and righteousness to be poured on him that he may help to
give good leadership to our province. We ask this in Jesus' name,
Amen.

BIOGRAPHY

Ernie
Hardeman was first elected to the Ontario Legislature in June, 1995
and was appointed as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of
Municipal Affairs and Housing until 1999. He was re-elected in June
1999 and was appointed by Premier Harris to Cabinet as Minister of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. He served in this position until
February 2001.

From
March 2001 to May 2002, Mr. Hardeman held the office of Parliamentary
Assistant to the Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance. In this
capacity he was responsible for the SuperBuild program and sat on the
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation as the government
representative. In May 2002, Mr. Hardeman became Parliamentary
Assistant to the Minister of Community, Family and Children’s Services.

On
February 25, 2003 Mr. Hardeman’s long municipal background and rural
knowledge was recognized by Premier Ernie Eves when he was asked to
join Cabinet as the Associate Minister to Municipal Affairs (Rural).

Ernie
was re-elected in June 2014 and is the longest serving MPP in Oxford’s
history. Ernie is been a member of the Official Opposition, where he has
served as the critic for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and is now
critic for Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Prior
to the 1995 election, Mr. Hardeman had a long career in municipal
politics in Southwestern Ontario. He was first elected to the Township
of South-West Oxford council in 1980 and, later, served as mayor from
1988 to 1994. Mr. Hardeman is also a former warden of Oxford County
council and has served as chair of the Warden's Association of Ontario.

On
the provincial scene, Mr. Hardeman served as chair of the Rural
Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) in 1993 and 1994. He served on
the board of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario for five
years from 1989 to 1994 and, during that time, also served as chair of
the A.M.O. 911 Committee and co-chair of the Municipalities in the
Future Task Force.

Mr.
Hardeman, who owned and operated Hardeman Feed Ltd. in Salford from
1966 to 1995, has served on many other local committees and community
boards, including the Alexandra Hospital Board of Trust in Ingersoll
and the Woodingford Lodge Board of Trust in Woodstock. For 25 years
Mr. Hardeman was a volunteer firefighter and retired in 1995 as
Captain of the South-West Oxford Fire Department. He and his wife, Reta,
have three sons and a daughter.

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